(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, just a brief recap from last week because chapter 19 we're starting in the middle of the story here so if you remember last week and it's it's essentially repeated, but um the king of isyria Sends rapshiki. So, you know sends his messengers, you know, the captains of his host or whatever to come down To jerusalem he comes down into judy goes to jerusalem and and basically has given him a warning and saying you know what? Don't fight us You know, who are you relying on? Don't rely on egypt. They can't help you. Don't rely on your god, you know We've already defeated all the other gods of these other lands So don't think that the lord's going to save you and basically just trying to scare them They're they're speaking to the people that are on the wall, you know the wall around the the city and trying to scare the people But remember at the very end of uh chapter 18 I said that the people didn't answer them. They answered him not a word because king hasekiah told them not to answer And one thing that's really interesting and i'll just make this point now We just we just finished reading chapter 19 at the very end. It talks about, you know, the king of isyria He ends up dying as a result of his own children killing him What a wicked man to have your own and what wicked children to kill your own father, right? And and that shows you yo this big tough guy going around and and beating everyone. How does how does he end up dying? Well, he goes home in shame against a really small group of people From judah judah is a very small group for him to lose To judah and then be disgraced and go home and have his own children kill him. Oh how the mighty have fallen And this is the way that god operates and this is kind of the theme we're going to see in chapter 19 How you know the the whole bulk of the story is really just about trusting in the lord Relying on god to protect you and to save you which is exactly what king hasekiah does With with the the fear being thrown at him with this great mighty army that have defeated so many other people everything against you coming in to To defeat you and relying on the lord to protect you and just turning to him hezekiah had already previous to this turned unto the lord and was repairing the house of the lord and was you know Getting things back on track because the previous king his father had had screwed things up and and went the way of bail And you know, whatever just was doing uh things that were not right So he was trying to get things back and he had a great heart And uh, I think it was at the beginning last week of chapter 18. It might have been the previous week I think it was yeah, it's chapter 18 Saying how hezekiah had, you know, there was none like him before him or after him That had the same heart that he had to serve god. So it was a great statement about who hezekiah is so Last week, basically the the the messengers came And they were saying all this stuff about how we're going to chew you up and spit you out. Basically, right? It's a rough a rough paraphrasing of what they said and um King hezekiah was not did not go out to meet them He sent his own messengers to go and in in talk with the with the the king sennacherib the king of asyria's messengers So now in 19 what's happening is they're relaying the message to king hezekiah and that's where we pick up here in verse number one So let's look down verse number one The bible says it came to pass when king hezekiah heard it that he rent his clothes rent means he he tore his clothes I mean is and this is something you find throughout the bible when people are really upset when something You know happens that makes them real sad or upset they end up rending their clothes. They tear their own clothing And cover he covered himself with sackcloth And went into the house of the lord so when people get upset in the bible what they would do is You know kind of tear their clothing put on sackcloth and it's really and and maybe cast dust on their head And what it is it's a way of humbling themselves and bringing themselves really low right kind of tattering their clothing putting on some sackcloth, which is just just a you know, like a cloth just a just a Kind of discovering it up with a sack. I mean, that's what it's a sackcloth And it's it's nothing fancy at all. And he's the king. This is king hezekiah, right? so he's putting on this sackcloth and and you know people throw dust on their head and stuff and just Just bringing themselves really low to entreat a high mighty god Because that's the only one that can help you in situations like this. You have a kingdom that has just been defeating Nation after nation after nation now is coming after you And they've already if you remember from the previous chapters they have already kind of defeated in getting into the land of judah Headed towards jerusalem so so some of the fenced cities that were kind of outlying the the main city have already been taken And people have fled from there, you know into into jerusalem whatever and this is their stronghold now And uh, it says in verse number two and he sent eliacim which was over the household And shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests covered with sackcloth To isaiah the prophet the son of amos. So now he wants to hear from god. It's his first radio His first reaction is you know, he's upset. He's grieving. He he he he humbles himself and then the people he Sends to to get a word from the lord He makes sure they're also humbled. They're also wearing sackcloth, you know, they're they're humbling themselves before hearing anything from god And honestly, this is the way that we ought to be entreating god the father when we entreat the lord It's too easy and we live in a christian a christian culture these days to kind of bring god down To the level of just like your buddy Right, and that's not the way the bible portrays our lord at all God is lifted up. God is magnified. God is is is above the highest of heavens I mean he's he is he is greater than everything and and deserves our commands our respect And our fear and that's why anytime anyone is confronted with god in any form like, you know Be it a mighty voice or a bright light What do they do? They fall down on their face is dead because that's what it's like to be in the presence of such a powerful mighty Holy god is that you are nothing in his eye in in his presence And you fall down on your head and that's what everybody in the bible does and that's why at the end of everything Every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that jesus christ is lord when they're in his presence Absolutely, nobody is going to have That stiff of a knack or rebellious of heart. They won't be able to do it They're going to be too scared stiff to to do anything else but to bow their knee And to confess and I don't care who you go we have people these days that have these attitudes And they think they're all tough and they're putting up a big front and i'll never bow to anybody and they'll have this type Yes, they will Yes, they will everybody will the bible says every knee shall bow and We need to just keep a healthy fear of the lord in our minds a healthy respect for god And look, there's nothing wrong with having a fear of the lord and still knowing that he loves us It's a good thing to have it's a healthy thing to have Let me put it this way because it's really easy to understand especially if you have kids and you're trying to raise up Children to be good children. You can't just be as a parent. You can't just be their best friend That relationship's not going to work. We see the ramifications of that today because there's so many split homes So many people are divorced and then they want to gain the affection of their child over the affection of of their ex-spouse or whatever Elizabeth come up here and get jonathan So what they do is they try to befriend their children They're 10 year old. They're 12 year old. They're seven year old and be their best buddy and it doesn't work You can't be your child's best friend if you're going to do if you're going to raise them properly They need to be disciplined leslie. You need to come get this child right now So It's not going to work My children need to have a proper fear Of my wife and I if they're going to grow up, right? Because here's the thing when you when you have friends Your friends aren't going to take you out and spank your behind right your friend. That would be weird Wouldn't it your friends don't do that? Your friends are there to have laughs with and go hang out with and and have fun. Just just play around That's what friends do. That's the relationship of a friend and that's a normal relationship to have with a friend You get to know each other you hang out, but there's no discipline There's no punishment coming from your friends that comes from an authority figure in your life And with children they need an authority figure in their life Otherwise they're going to grow up thinking there's no consequences for their actions. Otherwise, they're going to think that they can that anything goes And that everything's just fine And they can't do that so as parents we need to teach them and discipline them And they need they need to be reproved and they need to be punished and we are children of god And god is going to do the same thing to us and we can't have this attitude I mean think about it Think about the lack of respect if my children just started talking to me like I was just their buddy Instead of saying things like yes, sir, or yes, daddy i'll do that and and having respect I mean that would be so backwards but that's how many families operate these days And then your kids end up growing up not having respect for anybody If you don't have respect for your own parents, who are you going to respect? You're going to grow and have no respect for any authority and then they're going to end up in prison Because they're going to do stupid things because they have no respect for anyone or anything They end up stealing and and hurting other people and doing whatever they want to do because no one's ever taught them discipline No one's ever taught them Right from wrong and and showing them that there are consequences for your actions And the same reverence that our children ought to have for us as parents Even more so we ought to have for god as being our father and we need to have this this humility And respect and never just get to the point you it's it's harder when you don't physically see god See, I mean my parents physically see my parents my my children physically see us as parents, right? We're a lot bigger than they are. We're a lot stronger than they are. There's reason for them to fear right If they wanted to disobey me guess what dad's stronger If they you know, if I say you're going to be punished you're going to spank it and they say no I don't want to spank and they you know, they're going to get it They're not going to overpower me You know, they need to have that that healthy fear And we need to have that, you know, we're not going to overpower god by any means But we don't always see him And we don't want to have a a distorted view of who god is in our own minds Just because god is very loving and merciful and and and and treats us as his children and you know Jesus christ referred to us as his breath brethren, right? We don't want to let that screw up How we talk to god Hezekiah and and and the people that he had working for him. They understood this Right away. They're like we've got a problem and we need to make sure we're humble We're not lifted up with pride. We can't deal with this God needs to help us and we're going to go to god with humility And that's why they put on the sackcloth and then they go to the prophet they go to the man of god And they don't just go to someone calling themselves the prophet of the lord just to tell them what they want to hear Which is what other kings have done in the past and you see how well that works out for them That's what israel was doing They didn't want to hear a true prophet of the lord They just wanted to hear what they wanted to hear and just get some confirmation that yep What I what I think is right That's not the attitude hezekiah had hezekiah that attitude like let's go to the man of god and just hear what he has to say Let's just entreat and hopefully that god will hear us and will help us out here And we'll just do whatever god wants us to do And that's right and that's the attitude that we ought to have in our life Look at verse number three and they said unto him thus hath hezekiah this day is a day of trouble and of rebuke And blasphemy because of all the things that the that the king of israel had said by his messengers, right? It's a day of trouble to bring trouble against them rebuke and blasphemy because they're blaspheming the lord the god of heaven For the children are come to the birth and there is not strength to bring forth now Think about a time what is referred to as a time of labor right when a woman's in labor. It's a time of great trouble There's there's all kinds of things going on and when you get to that point of being labor and ready for that baby to come out What he's relating the situation they're into is, you know, we're here we're going through the worst of the worst And now we don't have enough strength To get through this to get past this and they're kind of stuck in this perpetual state of like At that worst state of your pregnancy and the women and that children. They will know what i'm talking about that that last phase when it's like everything is just Really intense the pain the everything and you just want it to stop And imagine not having enough strength To be at that point and just you just can't get that last push to finish And that's what he's he's you know, he's using this language to illustrate. We're in a day of trouble There's all this stuff happening now It's gotten it's things have gotten to a head and we don't have the strength to to get through this We can't do this on our own is what he's saying Verse number four it may be The lord thy god will hear all the words of rapshaki whom the king of asyria is master at sent to reproach the living god And will reprove the words which the lord thy god hath heard Wherefore lift up by prayer for the remnant that are left So this is what hezekiah was was saying had his servants say and and go to isaiah to get the word from the lord And he's saying we're just hoping that that god can help us and that he'll reprove these people And notice what he brings up is that look these people are bringing your name down god These people are doing all these things and if you don't help us, you know, it's it's and he doesn't say it in these words But basically it's kind of like if you don't help us You know, they're bringing your name down and your name will look bad And we're i'm going to go over this a little bit later, but there's so many examples of the in the bible where God care god definitely cares about his name and he uses situations to make sure the whole world knows That god is the lord. He's the true god in heaven. There is none else He is the lord and he uses situations that are completely impossible any other way This is a completely impossible situation for for judah for jerusalem. It's completely impossible They are so outnumbered They don't have the military strength. They can't do this They cannot win this battle because what's going to happen is that they would just be besieged And they would just wait them out and wait them out until they just had to give up and they have no resources left That's what would happen God is the only true god. He's the only one capable of answering these reproaches and this is why The gods of other lands couldn't do anything to save because they're not gods at all, right? Because they were boasting about oh What about the gods of c for vam and of hayman and of all these other places and he's just like What what about them, huh? You know, we defeated all them their gods didn't say them because they're not gods Turn if you want to judges chapter 6 keep your place here judges chapter 6 This reminded me what they what the um like the messengers From sennacherib were saying reminds me of what happened with gideon and judges judges chapter 6 We're a look at sorry in verse number 27 when god had uh Instructed gideon to tear down the altar on the bale You remember the altar was was reared up in the house of his of gideon's father And it was his big altar they had it was set up to bail and god told him to tear it down So he went out at night and he tore down the altar of bale, you know when everyone was sleeping No one really saw him do it Then they woke up and they're like, oh man, you're getting all crazy and mad because someone tore down the altar, right? And that's who they worship. They were bale worshippers and they thought that bale was their god and whatever else So that's how how tightly they held to that look at verse number 27 here in judges 6 It says then gideon took 10 men of his servants and did as the lord had said unto him And so it was because he feared his father's household and the men of the city That he could not do it by day that he did it by night And when the men of the city arose early in the morning behold the altar of bale was cast down And the grove was cut down that was by it and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built So he built an altar unto the lord And put a sacrifice on there and they said one to another who hath done this thing And when they inquired and asked they said gideon the son of joash hath done this thing Then the men of the city said unto joash bring out thy son that he may die Because he hath cast down the altar of bale and because he hath cut down the grove That was by it and joash said unto all that stood against him. Will ye plead for bale? Will ye save him He that will plead for him Let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning if he be a god let him plead for himself Because one hath cast down his altar Therefore on that day He called him jared bale saying let bale plead against him because he had thrown down his altar and this is actually a pretty You know decent statement here. There's there's um Many times where god has proven himself and in other instances And you know these false gods have never done anything To prove that they're real bale Any any any false gods any mythological creatures? None of them have ever proven anything And people are just believing a lie. They're believing in things they make up in their own mind or what have you but nothing, uh None of these guys have ever been able to do that. And that's why you know, gideon's father's just saying look Well, let's if bale's real Why why doesn't he do something about it? Then? Why do we have to kill him for this? Let bale do it Let's see if bale's real Right, and if bale was real and was able to strike gideon dead then i'm sure everyone would fear, right? But it didn't happen because bale's not a real god He's a false god He has no power And you remember I mean the same thing happened when elijah faced off against the prophets of bale I mean we just read about that weeks ago And and you know, they're all doing all their sacrifices and they're you know They're they're cutting themselves and enchanting and doing whatever things that they think is going to get through to their false god But in the end he was a false god. He couldn't do anything. He had no power at all because it's not god And that's why when elijah did his sacrifice The lord answered with fire from heaven and consumed the the sacrifice and licked up all the water and everything, you know And just made it Unquestionable that this is god that this is the lord that this is the creator that this is the supreme being And there is none else And god uses these events Over and over again. There's many stories. Like I said, i'm gonna get into that in a little bit I don't want to get too far ahead of myself But there's many stories in the bible where god is using this to bring glory and honor and respect under his name And I think sometimes he allows All you know various things that happen just so that he can do that. I know what that is I mean the bible tells us that it happens he lifts people up Literally just to bring them down. He allowed the king of egypt to be lifted up Just so that he could bring him down when he led the children of israel out with moses He allowed for him to get to that state of power And allowed for him to be in that position and made it so that he hardened his heart So that he still wouldn't let him out so that god could just continue to show himself and his power and his might And that the whole world would know That jahova is lord that jahova is the god That there is one god and this is who it is and don't mistake it Because these events that happen get worldwide fame Everybody ends up hearing about these things Everybody heard about what happened With moses and the children of israel in egypt everyone heard about that because they were scared When they were coming then to inherit the promised land when they're going into canin Can and i've heard about what happened in egypt and they were scared about it That's what happened in jericho It happened in other places, you know all these battles that they're having they heard they heard about their victories They heard about the things that happened and they were scared because they knew that they were serving a real god And not these other gods that couldn't do anything Let's go back to uh second kings 19 Verse number five. So now hezekiah is going to get an answer isaiah answers him, right? They're going to god in humility and asking the prophet to just to to to get some help and see what god says Verse number five. So the servants of king hezekiah Came to isaiah and isaiah said unto them Thus shall you say to your master thus saith the lord? Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard With which the servants of the king of isaiah blasphemed me and I think Honestly, this is probably the main theme of this chapter and something that you need to walk away with Is when you're going to the lord one thing that we need to make sure that we don't do is it says be not afraid We ought not to fear What man can do unto us we fear the lord but no matter what your situation is and we've covered this in second kings previously because These situations happen And they've happened over and over again where some big bad strong enemy comes against you and you're completely outnumbered But god says don't be afraid And and when you fall into some fearful times in your own life And oftentimes what what makes us fearful is the unknown when you're thrown into a situation you have no experience with When when something comes your way when someone confronts you with something when when a loved one has a medical problem And you don't know anything about it, right? These are all times that we are going to be afraid because it's foreign to us. We don't know how to deal with it when a whole bunch of people surround your your town and and You're like, oh man, what do we do? Right. This has never happened before Those are the times when people get afraid you don't get afraid You know people get afraid when they want to go out soul winning. They've never done it before Because they don't know it's fearful But the more you've done it you get experience and and you learn things and then it's not a big deal And you don't have that fear, right? So people get this fear When you're you're thrown into something new, but god's saying don't be afraid And if you're living for god, and if you're if you're going to god and seeking god We don't have to be afraid of anything. So remember that when you do get thrown into a situation where you might be fearful Where you've never been in before and you start to feel that fear You can if you know, you're doing right if you know that you're just I mean to the best of your ability And that's saying you're perfect but if you're if you are if you care about the lord if you're going to church if you're reading your bible if you're going so if you're if you're Doing things that you know that god is expecting you to do if you're trying to listen to god And you're going to god for your wisdom and instruction Then you don't have anything to fear And take that away with you. You don't have to fear God will lead you along even even though sometimes we could be stupid and ignorant and and maybe make some bad choices You know, we ought not to be afraid of the unknown now I mean we should do our best to to get knowledge and to get wisdom and and to to get in the word of god But at the end of the day, you know, you could never know everything about everything and there's always going to be situations That might be a little stressful and kind of put you into some fear, but we don't have to be afraid We could rely on god and that's the first thing that he said the first words of his message to hezekiah's be not afraid Don't be afraid of the words that are coming out of their mouth Now normally without a god to protect He ought to have been very afraid, right? I mean he's coming at him with all this military force and all this power and everything against him Of course, he should have been afraid just speaking worldly speaking right just the the wisdom of this world but not with god Not when you have a a almighty god to rely on he says don't worry at all. Don't be afraid Because god can handle anything and god's going to handle this that's what he says um Because he knows he says which uh of the words which i was heard with which the servants of the king Of israel have blasphemed me god knows they blasphemed him And god's going to stand up for his name and for his people look at verse number seven behold I will send a blast upon him and he shall hear a rumor And shall return to his own land and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land So rabshaki returned And found the king of israel warring against libna for he had heard that he was departed from lakish and this is great I mean everything that isaiah said is literally from the word of lord. And how do we know that because these things exactly have have Happened the way that he said they came to pass That's how you know, he's a prophet. That's how you know isaiah's a prophet exactly what he said Thus saith the lord and it happened to a t Verse nine and how encouraging is that When you hear the word you hear god says not to be afraid and then everything he says like wow that all just happened That's great. Like that's it's reassuring. It gives you even more comfort and uh and strength knowing that Yeah, this I mean this is god is with us verse number nine and when he and when he heard saith King of ethiopia behold he has come out to fight against thee He sent messengers again unto hezekiah. So this is The king of israel hearing that the king of ethiopia the ethiopians now are coming against them to fight against them So he wants to make sure he's saying, you know, don't get too comfortable You know, i've got this other thing i've got to deal with right now, but i'm coming back Don't don't think that you won this thing, you know, that's what he's because he still wants to instill fear in them even though Everything that the prophet said even everything that god was saying has a kayak it happened exactly like that So now this second time how much do you think hezekiah is going to be fearful of this? Not nearly as much when he knows What god has done already look at verse number 10 thus shall you speak to hezekiah king of judah saying? Let not thy god in whom thou trustest deceive thee Saying jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of israel Behold thou hast heard what the kings of israel have done to all lands By destroying them utterly and shalt thou be delivered have the gods of the name This is where he goes on and on about how you know, don't don't think that the lord's going to protect you I'm going to deal with this and come right back have any of the other gods delivered you out of out of our hands You know have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed as gozan and heron And reeseff and the children of eden which were in the laser Where is the king of hamath and the king of arpad and the king of the city of sephir vam of hena and iva? And hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers and read it And hezekiah went up into the house of the lord and spread it before the lord and this is great You know when problems come your way When people are afflicting you when people are are are trying to destroy you and here he has a letter So, what does he do he goes to our father in heaven he goes Look, look at what they're saying god Here's what they're doing. I'm bringing this to you because because you're all right. I know you're going to help me You've already helped me once but god I need you again. Please help. Look at what they're saying about your name Look at what they're saying. They're comparing you lord to these other false gods. They have no Understanding at all lord and and this is the way that you know that he deals with this and and god obviously can't do that Obviously cares about it. Let's see in verse number 15. Let's keep reading And hezekiah prayed before the lord and said oh lord god of israel which dwellest between the cherubims thou art the god even thou alone Of all the kingdoms of the earth thou hast made heaven and earth lord bow down thine ear and hear Open lord thine eyes and see and hear the words of snakarib which had sent him to reproach the living god Of a truth lord the kings of iseria have destroyed the nations and their lands And have cast their gods into the fire For they were no gods but the work of men's hands wood and stone therefore they have destroyed them So the the king of you know, asyria the asyrians were coming through And and destroying these lands and taking their gods that they you know These people revered and just cast them in the fire casting them down as they're nothing just destroying them wiping them out and and I believe as they continued got more and more full of pride and haughty saying who's going to stop us These are all fake, you know, they didn't have any respect to their gods, which they were false gods Anyways, but they're also treating the lord As being not real and being fake and saying we're just going to tear him down too And god's like no You're not because I am real and you're going to understand this and the whole world's going to understand that I am not like those gods Because they were and that's what hezekiah is saying he's like look we know it's true god They have been going through and destroying other gods But he's kind of saying like but we know that you're true. We know that you are the creator of heaven and earth We know that you're real And we know that those other gods were just wood and stone and and you know, metal whatever and they're nothing They meant nothing and that's why they were able to destroy them because they are nothing Verse 19 now therefore lord our god I beseech thee save thou us out of his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know That thou art the lord god even now only Then isaiah the son of amos sent to hezekiah saying thus saith the lord god of israel That which thou hast prayed to me against sennacherib king of isyria i've heard This is the word that the lord hath spoken concerning him the virgin The daughter of zion hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorn the daughter of jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee this is this is now god's response to sennacherib right saying that the um The virgin the daughter of zion had despised thee and laughed these you're basically saying god's words to sennacherib is like Israel's laughing you to scorn you, you know, they're they're they they have Not fear for you at all Right. We don't care at all what you say and in going back at him with this attitude of like Who do you think you are? Right coming from judith. This is coming from god Saying that they're laughing you to scorn the daughter of jerusalem has shaken her head at thee just like, you know face palming I can't believe a serious coming up against us. Like how stupid how ignorant don't you know that we have god on our side? This is the attitude that god's presenting or portraying again, you know to sennacherib look at verse 22 Whom has thou reproached in blaspheme now? This is a question to to to the king of israel and against whom has thou exalted Look at this exalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high. It's talking about the pride that the king of israel has Even against the holy one of israel Against the lord that's who you're blaspheming Verse 23 by thy messengers thou hast reproached the lord and has said with a multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains To the sides of lebanon and will cut down the tall cedar trees thereof and the choice fir trees thereof And I will enter into the lodgings of his borders and into the forest of his carmel I have digged and drunk strange waters and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places This is the attitude that's coming from sennacherib right his his haughtiness and his pride Look at verse 25 now has thou not heard long ago how I have done it and of ancient times that I have formed it Now have I brought it to pass that thou shouldest be to lay waste Fenced cities into ruinous heaps therefore their inhabitants were of small power They were dismayed and confounded They were as the grass of the field and as the green herb as the grass and the house house tops And as corn blasted before it be grown up But I know thy abode and thy going out and thy coming in in thy rage against me Because thy rage against me and thy tumult has come up into mine ears Therefore will I put my hook in thy nose and my bridle in thy lips and I will turn thee back By the way by which thou camest God's saying you know what it's time for you to understand who's in charge here It's time for you to understand that i'm the one that lifts up and brings down and all those people you were able to destroy I made it that way And that's where he comes up you're saying you know your rage against me His anger his wrath against the lord He's saying now i'm going to deal with you And the bridle is something that that you put in like a horse's mouth And it's just a big stick, you know It goes in their teeth and then you can just like yank on it from either side Just to get them to turn this way or that way because it just controls their whole head And then he talks about putting the the hook in their nose I mean, I don't know if you've ever like wrestled or fought anyone before like you get someone, you know yanking on your nose that hurts That'll really get you to turn your head a certain way when someone's fish hooking your your nose And this is the way that god's saying he's going to deal with this with the king of a series You know i'm going to put a bride on your mouth like an animal And i'm going to hook your nose and i'm just going to tear you back and lead you back the way you came You thinking you're going to come against me And god's going to handle it and bring him down and see this is why We go to god with our problems because god can do these things Hezekiah can't do these things He needs god to do these things and god will do these things Especially because they're seeking him and and these people are are bringing reproach against the name of the lord Verse 29 and this shall be a sign unto thee you shall eat this year now This is this is a sign for the people of judah This is for the children of israel. He says this shall be a sign unto thee you shall eat this year Such things as grow of themselves and in the second year that which springeth of the same because remember they're all packed into the city Right, they're they're in distress. They're under duress from from the asyrians coming against them They can't spread out like in times of peace where you don't have to worry about being fenced in and protected Where you would be going out and and cultivating your crops and doing all this other stuff So what he's saying is that and they've already been on high alert for a while at this point, right? They've already kind of come and been besieged a little bit so they haven't been able to keep up on Planting things. So what god's saying is that Just eat of what's produced. He said this year and next year And then in the third year you'll be able to sow and reap and plant your vineyards and eat thereof and everything way back door and he says that you're in verse 30 and And the remnant that has escaped the house of judah shall yet again take root downward and bear fruit upward He's saying you're going to be established You're not going to be in this state of of of you know being fearful and having Everything up in the air He says you're going to be secure And you're going to be able to plant and plant down and get established and bring up fruit and and you know do good And that's his promise. He says so basically it's within three years. Everything's going to go back to normal Everything's going to be just fine and he's saying i'm going to provide for you the first year and the second year So don't worry about it. And then the third year you'll go right back to working and and and Taking root verse 31 For out of jerusalem shall go forth a remnant and they that escape out of mount zion The zeal of the lord of hosts shall do this therefore thus saith the lord concerning the king of asyria He shall not come into this city nor shoot an arrow there nor come before it with shield Nor cast a bank against it By the way that he came by the same shall he return and shall not come into this city saith the lord so this is god's answer remember because They had sent that other letter saying, you know, we have to take care of this thing, but we're coming back And god's saying yeah, that's not going to happen. He's saying they're going to come back But they're not even going to get close enough to shoot any arrows They're not going to get close enough to you guys to do anything. He says i'm going to make sure of that They're going to come and they're going to go back the way they came without ever being able to shoot one arrow into the city And this is what happens look at verse number 34 for I will look for I will defend the city God is defending it to save it for mine own sake and for my servant david's sake And it came to pass that night that the angel of the lord went out And smote in the camp of the asyrians and hundred four score and five thousand And when they arose early in the morning behold, they were all dead corpses now We see different instances in the way that god helps people Sometimes they do have to fight in battle, right? And and that and god tells david, you know in differences you go Okay, go this way and do that and go into your battle and god still gives them the victory But they're doing the work and fighting but in other situations god does everything And this is one of those situations They don't have to go out and and set up their their battle in array and get ready to fight God just says you know what i'm going to defend the city just completely on my own and what happens is he sends an angel To go out in the night And these people a hundred like a hundred and four score and five that's a hundred and eighty five Thousand people imagine imagine being part of an army a huge army right going to to defeat jerusalem You're you're getting ready to battle you're camped out the next day you wake up. There's a hundred and eighty five Five Thousand dead men. I mean how many is a hundred how what would that look like? I don't even know a hundred and eighty five thousand people. That's a lot of people How much do our you know sports arenas hold not that many? 30 40 000 50. I don't know. I mean, I I how much the you know, that's a lot of people All right, you think about the traffic that from people coming and going from football games and stuff like that A hundred and eighty five thousand people all died just just boom overnight dead Decimating their forces coming out against jerusalem Because god decided to do it and they want to think that the lord's not real Yeah, they weren't quite so so high and mighty Anymore after this happened they had to talk tale and go back home in shame The bible says in verse 36 so sinecrib king of isyria departed and went and returned and dwelt at ninivee And it came to pass as he was worshiping in the house of nisrock his god that adramlech and cherieza his sons Smote him with the sword and they escaped in the land of armenia and ezar hayden his son reign And has said, you know, the bible says that that pride goeth before destruction And that's what happened here. The king of isyria was lifted up in pride and was destroyed And what second kings doesn't tell us here it I mean There's a second chronicles 32 is actually a very very brief summary of this whole chapter It's a it's a very condensed version because second chronicles goes into other events and other things that have happened with king ezekiah And other things that were going on. But um, there is a section kind of dedicated to this and So In verse 21 of second chronicles 32 the bible says in the lord sent an angel Which cut off all the mighty men of valor. So this gives us a little bit more detail It says 185 000 basically in second kings 19 But it says here which cut off all the mighty men of valor and the leaders and captains In the camp of the king of isyria. So like the best of the best right the leaders The captains the mighty men of the people who are really strong we're gonna go in those people died and 185 000 people total died, but it was like their best people this wasn't like You know the the the infantry that wasn't that good the people you might send in first because you don't care if they die Or whatever. These are like the leaders wiped out That's devastating The death that is so devastating for a military to lose like all of their leaders And their their their best veterans and mighty men of valor like But that's what happened here and it says so he returned with shame to face his own land And we didn't get that I mean we you could have probably figured that out but yeah, he was ashamed Why was he ashamed because judo was so small because he talked this big game and was oh, man You guys you ought to be afraid just give up now We'll give you some horses, you know some chariots if you could find people to put on the horses to fight against us You know and all these things that they were saying and mocking them and rebuking them and just reviling the lord To they didn't even fight they didn't even have to fight 185 000 people just you know woke up dead They didn't wake up at all Morning comes 185 000 dead We can't fight this battle. We're leaving and that's what happened in this story. It's a pretty interesting story And then it says in verse 23 of second chronicles 32 and many brought gifts unto the lord of jerusalem and presence to hezekiah king of judah So he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth God gets the glory god received the glory for this victory Because people were bringing gifts now all of a sudden just like wow God's the lord, right? I mean the lord is god. He's he's the one and people realize this So king ezekiah is now receiving presents and that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from there on out Because of what happened to when god sent his angel to kill those men And then people finally got the picture. Yeah again The lord is god and this theme is recurring of god defending his people where a mighty scary godless people are persecuting a weaker people And when the afflicted call on the lord, they're delivered. I already mentioned, you know with pharaoh king of egypt and The children of god the people of god are being um, you know cast down and in trouble God does all these miracles and sends all these plagues and makes known that the world knew from that point on that god is the lord We see the same thing with david and goliath right david and goliath. There's a lot of similarities to hezekiah here hezekiah is relying on god and giving the glory to god and god's the one he goes to and god's god's battle and god Wins everything when you read about david and goliath. What's david saying? You know, he's he's concerned because Who is this reproaching the living god? He's defying the lord. He's defying lord's people He's saying, you know the the goliath coming out that philistine is just blaspheming the lord And mocking and ridiculing the children of israel and has no regard and no respect for the lord of heaven And david's like who does this uncircumcised philistine think he is to talk about god that way It's not his own personal thing. It's the lord that he cared about And he said, you know when he told saul, you know, god delivered me out of the out of the the hand of the lion and the bear God god did that for me that god's going to deliver this felicity into my hand, too And even when he was running at him, he said you come at me with a with a with a sword and a spear He said but I come to you in the name of the lord And won the victory because the victory was god's the whole time And this undefeatable looking monster giant that everyone was afraid of No one needed to be afraid of him at all Because if god is fighting for you, you know if god be for us who could be against us This is the theme we see it with Nebuchadnezzar right another person lifted up with pride king of the whole world at his time is You know, he had his his babylonian empire And then we see shadrach meshach and abednego being told about I don't know a false god and they wouldn't do it And they were threatened with death and what happened of course god delivered them. God saved them again God's name is magnified against those that would reproach the lord As you know as pharaoh said who is the lord That I should let you go and worship. Who is that? Well, god made sure that pharaoh knew who he was Nebuchadnezzar ended up knowing who the lord was When he was out eating grass And have his his fingers growing, you know fingernails growing long and his hair became like feathers and all this You became like a beast out in the field for seven years Until he finally realized you know what there's a god in heaven and he's the one that controls things and it's not me And it's not my greatness that made all this happen as actually god who made these things that happened You think I mean the stories go on and on think of esther And mordecai And wicked haman haman was out to destroy the people of god and and you know, they had to to to call on the lord And you know have god protect them that way it were, you know through using esther and mordecai to to You know to get things right over and over again multiple times during the reign of the kings and of the judges They're being afflicted. They call on the lord and the lord saves them out of their troubles Over and over again and we see this is such a common theme We need to get this through our heads that like it doesn't matter what your situation is. Nothing is unique No matter what your situation is you need to be relying on god And my friends, you know, i've said this before and i'll say it again When you go through the hard times the last thing that you need to do is be getting out of church and being getting away From god and oh, I need a break from all of this No, you need to be getting in even more When you're getting attacked when you're having problems, you don't understand I don't need to understand What problem was there that was too big for god and what problem is there where god says? You know what? It's best for you to just stay away from me. Stay away from my house And not come to church and not be around believers not be around your spiritual family It's better for you just to be off and be alone when do you ever see that in the bible anywhere one time? You're not going to find it It's man's wisdom that thinks you need a break And unfortunately what happens is When people end up going that route they get out They end up getting out completely Because it gets a lot easier to stop coming and stop living for the lord because look let's face it Living and doing what's right and and and you know working for god isn't the easiest life in the world to do It is work There is maybe a little bit added stress or pressure to do things to To get things done and drive you pleasing in the eyes of the lord But it's rewarding in the end That's where our faith comes in We have to maintain that faith to know that in the end as I was preaching last night brother matthew You're with me on patience and having that patience to get through the difficult times and the hard times of knowing that in the end It's worth it In the end god blesses us, but we need to have that sight of the unseen And keeping our eyes on the goal And not being afraid or scared off no matter what no matter How big the giant is in front of you no matter how large the enemy appears before you They that be with us are greater than they that be against us We have god god has angels. We have people to protect us We have no reason to fear but we need to be staying within the will of god We need to be listening to him and doing what's right? God uses all these events to get glory to his name um Far and wide now the last point I want to make And this is really interesting and and I recommend you go home and kind of check this out for yourself later on isaiah 36 37 and 38 Are all I mean literally almost word for word identical to second kings 18 19 and 20. So these stories about hezekiah Are recorded in the book of isaiah literally almost word for word But the reason why I want to bring this up and just make mention of it and for you to kind of check out later is to look at The the the minor differences And this kind of goes to a point for me to explain what I believe about God's word being preserved and perfect and when it comes to translations Still being the word of god and being perfect Obviously, I don't want to minimize that we believe every word of god is pure and true and important Every word of god is important and we do our bible memory. It has to be perfect. It has to be exact But when it comes to god's word being preserved and translated And being perfect and complete and without error I don't want people to shake your faith. That's why I explain what I believe when you look at these different parallel passages between isaiah and second kings you will see words Maybe in a different order same words, but just you know, there's a comma in one place and they're just They're just Swept swapped but it says the exact same thing Right. I mean literally the exact same thing, but they're just repositioned When the translation of the king james bible was being done There was obviously a word for word type of translation where they cared The most about the words they were translating to make sure that they're accurate and represent exactly what it says And translate that to english. However There was a little bit of freedom used in the order of the words to make it sound good To make it go together. Well, and it could still all be perfect and without error While that was being done Okay And the reason why every word is important because every word carries a meaning so when you start changing the words up You you literally will start changing the meaning of not everything is a direct, you know, not every word has direct synonyms I mean, it may be really close Or whatever but and I believe that every word that we have here is important and is true but You know, we need to understand to what degree should we be concerned With the word of god and the preservation of god's word, right? Like so what I mean by that is Are we going to be really concerned and bent out of shape about the spelling of a word, right? Like if you have a bible there's oh well, you know Some people get all upset. Oh savior's not spelled with a u and it needs to have a u otherwise, you know, it's like It's the same word It has the same exact meaning That spelling difference means nothing literally nothing God didn't and what about punctuation right a comma or semicolon or even a question, you know, I mean like these things are God didn't promise to preserve every last little Detail when it comes to those things the spelling and punctuation but he did promise to preserve his words Right and men of god spake as they were moved by the holy ghost So it's the words that are most important not the spelling not the punctuation And I believe when it comes to a translation that the words stating the same thing the words being translated properly, but being moved around a little bit to to Because it sounds good or whatever is not a problem There's not you know, that's one of those things where we don't have to be so focused with a microscope On god's word being perfect to that degree to that extent if that makes sense you might understand, you know I'm, I feel like i'm having a hard time really explaining this well, but when you read you kind of see what i'm talking about And don't forget if there's some words missing, you know, isaiah is a different book than second kings they're recording the same events, but like They were they're different books From from different people even though so much of it literally is like almost word for word It is word for word and for the majority of it But when you compare the two you'll see what you kind of see what i'm talking about and like that's not an it's not an It's not a problem It's not an issue there. That's nothing to do with god's word. Oh, it's not being preserved perfectly or something. It's just It is preserved perfectly. I mean and it's and we don't need to be focused on the minutia of these little tiny things when It's it literally so you you read that and you're like, yeah, this is the same the same exact story Everything's being said and obviously sometimes when there's in different books, especially There's more details maybe added like we've been looking with the chronicles versus the kings and getting different pieces of information between the two And again god, it's not that either one is false or contradictory. It's just more information being added So I just kind of wanted to make that point that we don't need to be so focused on these little details. I mean If there was a if there was a bible translation out there that wasn't the king james bible, but literally Maybe used a different word. That was a synonym I wouldn't say that's no longer the word of god I believe that these are the words of god and there's no need to change anything But if there was a word if you had everything Exactly the same copied word for word and then one word had a complete synonym and it was swapped out That's still the word of god that's what I believe I you know, I don't i'm not But there's no reason to do that right but i'm just saying that like it would still be the same thing So when you look at the earlier versions the revisions prior to the king james bible when They might have been using um passover If they use passover instead of easter or easter instead of passover something like that, right? I don't think that makes it not the word of god either way Because they mean the same exact thing They're both legitimately the word of god And you'll see that when you when you compare like these types of of passages you'll see the The very very very subtle differences in in the account, but it says the literally the exact same thing And it's not something we need to be worried about and have that be some kind of stumbling block for for Oh, no, I don't know is this is this really god's word now Yeah, no, so anyway, that's about right to have a word of prayer do you have any father lord? We thank you so much for your words and we thank you for preserving your words and that we don't have Any reason to doubt your words today that even though it's 2017 that you've done the work for us just as much as you Won the victory in the battle for hezekiah and and slew 185 000 men through the through the uh angel that you sent To to kill them lord Just as much as you have that power and did that amazing feat an amazing act. I believe with with full assurance that you have Also made sure that we have your words the way that you want them for us today god I pray to please help us to have more faith. I pray that you please help us to to not be afraid and to trust in you and that we could Um be living the lives to the best of our ability to be following your laws and that we would be going to you with our problems and and listening to hear from your words to get the guidance and the wisdom that we need to To make sure that we can be safe lord that we could be Protected from evil and that and that any evil that comes our way We don't have to worry or fear but that we can just completely rely on you to jesus name. We pray amen